Thursday, February 24, 2011

The new project on my needles is a pair of fingerless mitts from Knitty called Spirogyra in Blue Moon Hand Painted Sock Candy in the Delicious colorway. Sock Candy is 96% cotton and 4% Elite, an elastic that they say "wears well." The color is so yummy I could eat it and the stretchy yarn is not bad either. I thought it might be as hard to use as Fixation but it is not!

It took a while to get my Sock Candy. In the past I have plugged the wonderful yarn and service of Blue Moon Fiber Arts. I even convinced myself that their excellent and quick delivery of my orders was because they valued me, me, me above all customers. Man did I have a rude awakening! Many of you know that they have had a rough month. They were short a dyer and were hit hard with unusually large number of orders. After three weeks of hearing nothing from them I called and was told--well, pretty much what I just told you. My point being that once in a blue moon even Blue Moon messes up, but it doeesn't make me love their yarn any less.

I received an order from Knit Picks in short order--a seven day turn-around. The lace weight Palette in peach will be knit on size 5 needles to create an airy summer sweater called E-Z V-neck Cardigan. Can't wait to start this one. I am coming to the end of the second front piece of Victoria from Knitty, and will make quick work of the sleeves (I hope).

Knitting time is at a premium, but it is too important to ignore. Move over work. I. Must. Knit.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Before the WordPress blog went down the drain I posted about Caller Herrin, the Fair Isle hat that I started about two weeks ago. It has been slow going because I have concentrated on the sweater.

I love Fair Isle and haven't done any for quite a while. There was my year of living dangerously and completing fifteen Fair Isle hats for Christmas gifts. Since then I have been resting on my Fair Isle laurels. Caller Herrin was a natural for slipping back into stranded knitting.

Then, work on the hat stopped abruptly. All it took was a slice through my left forefinger with a very sharp chopping knife. When I knit Fair Isle I use both hands. I know knitters who use only one hand and switch yarn colors as they throw or pick. Nope, I use two hands with a different color in each hand. A very sore, heavily bandaged forefinger makes that next to impossible!

I was at the top, ready to begin the final decreases when this happened. Now the hat waits in the knitting basket for the day when my finger is healthy enough to play its part in the program. Good news--I just started the last front piece for the sweater.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

I love to hear how knitters got started knitting. I don't think I have ever shared my own story so in the spirit of starting a fresh, clean blog I would like to do that. You probably know by now that the old blog is kaput. Dead. Sadly gone to the land of internet contamination.

Anyway, the story: as an only child I was accustomed to being alone, listening to music, reading, and playing with stuffed teddy bears and bunnies. I didn't like dolls. I had my dog and stuffed toys to feed tea and biscuits and put to bed, each in their own little doll bed with pillow and blanket. Never could get that dog to stay where I put him, but I digress.

At age nine we moved into a little red brick craftsman cottage across the street from my Mother's closest friend, Stella. She was Suzy Homemaker. Stella decorated her little cottage with handmade style. She sewed the slipcovers for her furniture, hooked the rugs on her floors and was adept at throwing the pots and vases she used to artfully arrange flowers, plants, potpourri, and balls of yarn around the house. She even knitted the pale pink cashmere sweater that she wore with a black pencil skirt--her trademark outfit. At nine I wanted to be Stella.

Imagine my joy when she asked Mom if she could teach us (me too!) to knit. I was deliriously happy and determined to become the best nine year old knitter in the world. I wanted to make Stella proud of me. I succeeded but Mom didn't. It was then that I came to believe that knitters are born not created! Mom did take to crochet, however, and it became her lifetime crafting love.

Thankfully my Mom took pleasure in buying me all the yarn I could use. I developed a love for Barbie Dolls and baby dolls when I realized I could knit for them. Add to that the thrill of discovering that my cranky little dog loved the sweaters I knit for him and I was a busy little knitter! Even DH, who at nine was my best friend, came to understand that the yarn and I were a unit. If he wanted a lifetime with the odd little redhead with the needles permanently attached to her hands, he would have to get used to hauling the stuff around and living with it.

We hauled, we lived and I knit through all of it. So that's how the blog fodder started. I would love to hear how it all started for you!

Patterns

About Me

My husband of 55 years is my first passion, knitting is my second! I love knitting socks, but I try to knit a lot of different things. We were transplanted from Chicago to Texas. It took 15 years for the transplant to take but now Texas is home. I adore my six children, six grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, my Jack Russell Terrier Macy and her Australian Terrier companion Max! Life is good!!